Retail Epiphanies

I have been thinking lots about shopkeeping lately, more than usual. I read a lot of shopkeeper's blogs for inspiration, and because it's always great to see someone is dealing with the same thing you are, the same highs and lows. I am noticing a lot of the small retailers lately are also thinking. Not thinking about closing or anything like that, just...thinking. Trying to understand this business and all the aspects of it. Lots are going through renewal periods, reinventing themselves, and working hard. I am going through this same transformation right now, especially with The Whatever Shop. So tonight I was thinking over my twice-weekly Dairy Queen blitz (urrrgh)...

Shops 'like this' are primarily owned and operated by the same type of woman. Excuse me while I typecast us all, but I really see this. We are creative, independent, think big but also think small, have a good eye, pay attention to detail, and I daresay we view much of the world differently than the majority of the public. That is why none of us are getting rich at this, ha ha. We are getting rich in a way that is not monetary, though. We don't view stuff as 'stuff'. We have more of an artistic outlook.

I had a woman in tonight who said she didn't like to "dust knick-knacks". That sort of comment in my shop always makes me go "Eh, what?" and I enjoy employing my favorite dirty look in response. But seriously. That is such a bizarre way to view things. It's not like I'm selling a dusty stack of Hummels or something else that can be categorized as a "knick knack". I sell home decor and antiques. It's not granny's attic. Mirrors are knick knacks? Candlesticks, prints, vases? Uh, whatever. *eye roll*

So I see this fundamental gap between "us" and "them" coming into play here. My girls are the ones who get it. They GET IT. They walk into a shop and are flooded with design ideas. It doesn't mean they are HGTV stars or something, it's just that the creative juices cannot help but get stirred up, they are inspired, excited, and interested. Dust? That is the farthest thing from their minds. And while they usually can't help but buy a special something (or two or three or four), they don't have to be out shopping in order to GET it.

I don't know if it's as simple as a divide between being creative and not being creative, or where the difference kicks in. I can usually spot a Kindred Spirit and a spirit that is not so kindred right off. Comments about dust or 'a lot of stuff', yeeeahh, not getting it, hon. And that's okay...I'm not going to understand them any more than they are going to understand me. But I believe that as artistic shopkeepers too often we are taken aback, maybe start second guessing, or making mistakes in trying to attract *everyone* to our shops. Newsflash: hanging a sale banner out is not going to get these dusty souls to suddenly change. It's not the economy, stupid. It's that you can't sell brake pads to an Amish man.

During my short-lived real estate career, I saw a lot of houses that made me...well, gag. Hideous. Absolutely bland, not warm or cozy, the most aesthetically-upleasing arrangements you can come up with. (Let's just say one involved two litter boxes and a very large cat.) Decorating is not important to everyone. Just like I don't give a rat's arse about sports in general. So I am learning what is best for my business is to be ME ME ME and do what I love and sell what I love and not get wrapped up in "dust".

Dad

Thinking of my daddy today.

Spring Things

I enjoyed decorating the shops for spring more than ever this year. Maybe it's because we had such a long drawn-out winter. Or it could be because of the fabulous things I ordered this year! I thought I would share some of my very favorites around the shop. (These are all at Frivolities, I am trying to keep most of the seasonal and holiday goods there, because I am NOT doing up two shops for fall and Christmas again, no way!!)

These chicks are the sweetest little things ever! The company comes out with new styles every year, and I swear they keep getting cuter! They are so lifelike. They are modeled after Victorian postcards; I actually have some of the real old postcards that have the same images. I usually get a little twitchy around cute figurines (having grown up in that Cherished Teddies era), but these are quite classy and decorative. You can see the sweet bunnies in the background, too. I love them, but the chicks especially thrill me.

Spelling out Easter--the cuteness!!

A box of chicky goodness. Fighting over forget me nots! Aaah! I could just squeal with the cuteness.

I love this velveteen rabbit. My favorite book growing up was "The Velveteen Rabbit". I'm not sure why, because it is so sad. I think I had a morbid fascination with it. I loved stuffed animals, I never cared for dolls, and here this little boy gets a lovely stuffed animal and it gets contaminated and has to be disposed of! It was like my worst nightmare. Why the heck did I love that book?? But this lovely velveteen rabbit is disease-free!

These look like they are made out of dark chocolate, and sometimes they send me straight to the box of Cadbury Eggs I keep stashed in the back! They are made out of unappetizing resin, but it's the looks that count!

And what is Easter without a lamb hauling a ginormous egg around on a cart?!

More tomorrow! Thanks for tuning in!

Finally!

Is it possible? Have I actually got this Blogger thing finally figured out? I must give a shout out to my expert blogging friend, Robin, who helped me straighten out this mess. :) Thank you!!

This is my third or fourth version of a blog since 2001 (back when they were called weblogs!), but this is the first time I have used a program instead of making my own screwball version. That was a drag and I rarely posted much, but now I promise I will be babbling here all the time.

I like blogs that introduce the writer in the first post, so I will do that! I hate reading about someone and not knowing who they are. My name is Amber, but I like going by Miss Friv online. I am the owner of two shops, Frivolities and The Whatever Shop. They both have their own stories, which will be chronicled here in my posts. My shops are my life and my life is my shops, so while this is a blog about shopkeeping, it will also be interjected with drivel about my daily life and musings on the world. But most of what I see, I view from the shopkeeper's lens. Whoa. That was deep.

I'm 30 years old, have a bizarre sense of humor, and really cannot believe that I am a grown-up just yet. I have a love of romantic decorating, roses, antiques, all things French (and I am 25% French, which I will point out over and over again ad nauseum), "the vintage lifestyle", furniture, painting, gardening, all things pink, old china, chippy paint, anything beautiful. But just so you don't see me as being all sugary and precious, I like to jazz things up by being sarcastic, cynical and sardonic. I promise to keep this blog (and my shops) lively and...interesting and unexpected. I am not perfect and frequently am klutzy, air-headed, and messy. I think it's more fun to read what people like that have to say rather than. "I woke up in a perfect pink cloud of roses and went outside to see the perfect lovely world where everyone and everything was just delightful." Hogwash!

I don't yet have that really awesome husband who will fix all the broken things in my shop, so until then, that chandelier is just not going to work. Right now in my life I want a pug more than I want a baby. (I feel I have to write about that, because once you turn 30, people start yammering about that baby thing way too much.) All that stuff is "for later" and not on the radar for me right now. I have the world's most wonderful mother, who is my partner in crime and in the shops. I have cats and like doilies, so yes, I may be an old maid. I did not go to college, save for a 4-month stint to become a real estate agent, a career I quickly retired from.

I used to be very into science and politics and nerdy things, but in the past few years, I have turned into all-artist-all-the-time. But not like an ARTIST, you know what I mean. I just like pretty things, making homes pretty, and pretty shops. In addition to my shops, I am also starting a career as a home stager, which is what I love more than anything in the world, even retailin'.

But about those shops! My 'first born' is Frivolities, started in 2002. I literally decided I wanted a shop one day and started the ball rolling on it the next week. Of course, it didn't open for 10 freakin' months until after I decided I wanted a shop! The way it goes. Frivolities (that's Friv-oll-it-eez) is a home decor and gift boutique, filled with beautiful things. Yes, I should post photos, I will work on that. It's in an unromantic shopping center, but the shop is gorgeous, if I do say so myself.

I was chugging along on my retail road when the opportunity presented itself to rent a lovely Victorian home downtown. I didn't really want two shops, like I said, not Martha Stewart. I mean, it was never my intention to expand and be some monster chain or something. But I could not pass up that house. So in 2008, Frivolities (Downtown) was born. Now, it was supposed to be a different shop--it's still frivolous, but with DIFFERENT things. D-I-F-F-E-R-E-N-T. It's not a chain. But about half of the population either thought I had moved and closed the original store, that I had a carbon copy of the first store (how would that even work?!), or that someone else had started another Frivolities, and I thought, "WHATEVER." Ugh. So really, the only way to really get it across that it is a different shop is to just change the name. I mentally changed it about 4 times before I finally settled on "The Whatever Shop" (name idea from mom!) and decided to really indulge my love of antiques and secondhand stuff and make it (primarily) an antiquey kind of shop. Although there is also a Christmas room, a 'country' room, the Hot Pink Powder Room, and a Frivolities Outlet room for odds and ends. I opened The Whatever Shop on March 20, 2009, one year to the date I started Frivolities (Downtown).

So now I figure I have one shop that is mostly new with a bit of old (Frivolities) and one shop that is mostly old with a bit of new (Whatever). Following this? Yay! And let me make it even MORE confusing by telling you that I have no intention of keeping two shops for more than the next two years. Yes, ooooooh, I am going to close one. I have always planned to close one since the day I got the idea to have two. Don't worry, it's not "this economy", or anything dire, like I said, it was the original plan, I just have that tricky thing called "overlapping leases", so that's why I've got two shops. I'm just running at 100 mph and have always been a sleepy sort of girl, and right now, I am busting my bum having two stores. I love it, but it's not a lifestyle I want forever, and some day, I probably will want a few sprogs. You just can't do anything having two shops, seriously. Especially because I am stubborn and eschew employees. My mind is on the shops literally 98% of the time. Well, maybe 95%.

Let's pause for a token picture of my 4 year old parakeet, Miss Darcy. Miss Darcy hates most everything except a good millet spray. She especially hates me sticking a camera up her beak. She was named for Mr. Darcy from "Pride and Prejudice" when I thought she was a boy, but nope, she's all girl. She is a widow and I am thinking about getting her a couple of boy-toys to keep her occupied when I'm not around for her to scream at.

More later...